Introduction
The Ministry of Commerce administers and provides policy advice on intellectual property rights.
Intellectual property rights are the rights people have over their intellectual creations. They play an essential role in promoting economic growth. Intellectual property rights achieve this by ensuring that businesses can reap the rewards of the investments they make in developing new products or services that people want. Patents are an important part of the intellectual property rights regime and they can have very substantial value. They give protection to the inventors and encourage further technological developments which make our lives easier.
The patent system is a means of promoting innovation. Patents provide an exclusive property right in exchange for disclosure of the invention. This system creates incentives to invest in research and development in new products and processes, promotes the transfer of technology, and facilitates trade in the knowledge that such rights generate.
There are other mechanisms for capturing the benefits of innovative activity, for instance, maintaining secrecy in relation to an invention. In other cases, rapid introduction of improvements to the product or the creation of new products can be sufficient for a firm to maintain a competitive advantage as it is not always easy for imitators to copy inventions and market them quickly.
The most appropriate strategy for a firm to adopt will depend on the nature of the product, and the characteristics of the relevant industry. Analysis suggests that patent protection is most likely to be chosen where production of the invention requires specific assets, where the invention can be easily copied, where the frequency of transactions with individual consumers is low and where there is a considerable investment in research and development.
New Zealand's present Patents Act dates from 1953. The Government wants to ensure that the legislative framework supports its wider policy objectives and is keen to enhance business performance by reforming law and regulations to remove barriers to business activity, promoting business practices which will make New Zealand firms more competitive internationally, and reducing the costs of doing business and complying with law and regulation.
Continuing economic growth will require very good business performance, and the Government is committed to playing its part in maintaining growth. As part of that, the Ministry is proposing that the Patents Act be reformed. This is primarily to:
- more clearly establish the scope of the Act to take account of new technologies;
- reduce the complexity and cost of the procedures associated with applying for patents, obtaining the grant of a patent, and maintaining a patent; and
- create more certainty for inventors and the public.
As part of the review of the Patents Act, the Government wishes to consider the current provisions in respect to the patenting of life forms and the issue of whether and what type of life form inventions should be patentable, taking into account the Government's broader economic policy objectives outlined above.
The Government has been concerned to ensure that appropriate consultation is undertaken, including with Maori, in respect to the reform of the Patents Act. When the Government considers the proposals for reform of the Act, including the patenting of life forms issue, it will take into account the extent to which the proposals will:
- stimulate businesses to innovate;
- utilise New Zealand's distinctive characteristics effectively;
- provide certainty;
- be timely and cost effective;
- be consistent with the Government's Treaty obligations; and
- treat communities in New Zealand consistently.
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